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Source:
History of Seneca County : from the close of the Revolutionary War to
July, 1880 :
embracing many personal sketches of pioneers, anecdotes,
and
faithful descriptions of events pertaining to the organization of the
county and its progress
Published: Springfield, Ohio: Transcript Print. Co.,
1880
CHAPTER XLIII.
VENICE TOWNSHIP
WHEN, on the 1st day of June, 1829, Ezra
Gilbert presented petition to the county commissioners from the
citizens of this township, praying to the county commissioners from the
citizens of this township, praying for its organization into a legal
township, to be known by its present name, they and he had very small
hope that by this time it would be the rich and beautiful township it
is. The prayer was granted, and the first election took place on
the 13th of June in that year.
The following ticket was then elected, viz.:
Township Clerk - Philip E. Bronson.
Trustees - Thomas WEst, Ezra Gilbert, Moses
Smith.
Treasurer - JAmes Halsted
Overseers of the Poor - Henry Speaker, Elisha
Fair.
Fence Viewers - Cornelius Gillmore, Ezra
Gilbert
Constable - Warren Blakesley
In addition to these officers there
were also among the early settlers: Governeur Edwards, John
Woollet, David Kemp, Jacob Cook, Andrew Moore, William McPherson,
Johnson Ford, Philip Muck, James McKibben. Mr. Ford and Mr.
McPherson are living at this writing.
In 1840 Venice had a population of 1,222; in 1870 it
had increased to 1,781, and in 1880 to 2,231.
Its soil is excellent, and it is now in the enjoyment
of great agricultural wealth. Of late years such farmers as
George Ringle, Thomas Bennett, David Ringle, Samuel Shade, James D.
Stevens, John McKibben, Henry Meyer, Z. Bretz, the Sourwines,
the Labolts, the Steigmeyers and others added greatly
towards its development.
Venice has two towns - Attica and Caroline. The
former has, to a great extent, absorbed the latter, especially since the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad has a station near Attica. Both towns
are situate on the old Columbus and Sandusky turnpike, which at one time
promised to become macadamized, and be a general north and south
thoroughfare. Colonel Kilbourn, who has been often
mentioned as one of the pioneer surveyors here, on the 28th day of
February, 1828, surveyed and platted Caroline, on sections ten and
eleven, and named it after a daughter of Cornelius Gilmore, the
first settler in the town and one of the proprietors; Hector
Kilbourn and Byron Kilbourn being the others.
Andrew Moore settled in this town in
1830, on the first day of April, and resided there to the time of his
death, which occurred on the 6th of August, 1846. (His widow died
at this writing.) He was county commissioner one time, and a most
excellent citizen. James McKibben located here on the 17th
of June, 1830. There were but fifteen families in Venice at that
time.
On the 1st day of May, 1833, William Miller and
Samuel Miller two brothers, from Pennsylvania, laid out Attica.
David Risdon was the surveyor. The name was derived from
the postoffice by that name, which had been located there before the
survey of the town. Ezra Gilbert named the postoffice after
the town in New York, where he formerly resided. Mr.
Gilbert kept the first public house here, and Nathan Merriman
kept the first store. In 1836 Attica contained twenty dwellings
already, and a population of one hundred. In 1840 it had eighteen
more. It is now a very lively country town, and has a fine trade.
A lawyer, Mr. Lester Sutton, is located here, and some six
physicians. The Attica Journal is a very readable weekly
newspaper, and very ably edited by my old friend Dr. J. C. Myers.
The rich farming community surrounding Attica will always make the town
a good trading post. The town had a splendid school house, a
healthy situated and a good moral community of intelligent people.
At the centennial 4th of July celebration in Attica
(1876) my venerable old friend Mr. Johnson Ford, had read to the
assembled multitude an abstract history of this township, which my
friend Dr. Myers was so kind as to place at my disposal, and from
which I quote. It was ably prepared by his son.
ATTICA, December 29, 1879.
Judge Lang:
DEAR SIR: I send you the
history of Venice township and attica, as prepared for the celebration
of the 4th of July, 1876. If you find any matter to help you in
your history, I shall feel amply rewarded. My best wishes for your
success.
J. C. MYERS
N. B. - It should be mentioned
here that the address as delivered was prepared by Mr. H. J. Ford,
but I will insist that uncle Johnson Ford furnished much of the
material.
A CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF
VENICE TOWNSHIPAND THE
VILLAGE OF ATTICA
Pg. 617
Arranged and written by H. J. Ford, and delivered
at the celebration in Attica July 4, 1876.
T. 1, N. R. 17 E.
For the names, dates, and all facts pertaining
to the earliest record of the then new township of Venice, I am indebted
to the two veteran pioneers, Father McPherson and Father Ford,
whose heads, whitened by the frosts of more than four score years, are
permitted to sit today on this platform. (Still living at time of writing,
May 28th, 1880.)
All honor to them and the other pioneers, to whose
perseverance, privations and self-denial we today are blessed with a home
in as beautiful, productive and wealthy a township as any in the grand old
state of Ohio.
Looking over our rich rolling farms, it is hard to
realize that only fifty years ago these same fields were an extended and
unbroken forest. In the memories of the few whose silvered heads
appear among us today, those scenes are distinct and real still, while we,
the younger generation, must resort to fancy to catch a view.
I wish it were possible to portray the dark forest, the
roving Indians, the howling wild beasts, the pioneer hardships met and
endured by our fathers, and make the impression go with us through life,
so that we might be taught thereby to respect with a proper degree of
veneration the gray hairs of the few who remain.
A fact in the history of this township should not be
overlooked in reference to the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike. Each
alternate section of land was granted by the legislature of the state to a
company as an inducement to undertake its construction. Colonel
James Kilbourn, of Worthington, Ohio, in 1827, was employed by the
company to survey and locate the south bank of Honey creek, where the
residence of O. J. McPherson now stands, and he was thus the first
settler in Venice township. Being a blacksmith by trade, his
services were required by Customers far and near. Ezra Gilbert
settled here in 1829. In August, 1828, Samuel Halsted
build a cabin house on the present site of Rininger and Silcox's
store. In September of the same year Johnson Ford moved into
his cabin, erected where the residence of Dr. Barber now stands.
In October, the same year, Thomas West built east of the pike, near
Honey creek. In November William McPherson built his house in
the center of the township, and in December Elisha Fair settled on
the site of L. O. Green's present residence.
In the month of November, 1828, at the instance of
Ezra Gilbert, a petition was presented to the commissioners of the
county, asking for a road commencing at the township line road, two and
one-half miles west of Attica, and running diagonally to the south of
east, to intersect the road leading to New Haven, near the Huron county
line, three and one-half miles east of Attica. The petition was
granted, and David Risdon, the county surveyor located the road,
and immediately Samuel Halsted, Ezra Gilbert and Johnson Ford
took their axes, and in six days they underbrushed the whole line, taking
their dinners with them, and returning home at night to enjoy their frugal
suppers of corn bread and crust coffee. Thus these pioneers, looking
ahead to the future, gave us these important cross-roads, which proved the
nucleus of our fair village.
Ezra Gilbert, early in the spring of 1829,
erected a cabin on the corner where Ford and Strannler's hardware
store now stands, and opened a public tavern. Shortly thereafter,
Nathan Merriman, from Bucyrus, opened out a small stock of dry goods
and groceries in a log building on S. A. Ringle's corner.
On the 19th of March, 1829, Esther, the wife of
Johnson Ford, died leaving her husband alone to his sorrow. A
neighbor went to Republic to assist in the preparation of a cherry coffin.
At the funeral the remains were placed on a rude sled drawn by oxen.
Samuel Halsted drove the team and Ezra Gilbert walked by the
side of the lone husband eight miles, to the cemetery in Scipio township.
It has been arranged that a funeral discourse should be preached at the
house of Ethan Smith, near the place of burial, and the settlers
gathered there, but no minister came, and without so much as a Christian
prayer, the body was put to rest. The pioneer returned to his lone
cabin, and although nearly a half century has passed away, he is with us
here today.
The second death was a child of Samuel Halsted.
Mr. Ford donated an acre in the center of his farm for a burial
place, and cleared the same. The remains of a child of Philip
Muck was the first interment there and the third death.
During 1829 the following persons settled here:
Nathan Merriman, Governeur Edwards, Philip Muck, John Armatage, Jacob
Cook, Henry Speaker, Jr., James Willoughby, David Roop, David Kemp, John
Woolet, Samuel Wollet, Samuel Croxton and Jollier Billings.
Men were also employed on the turnpike.
On the 1st day of June, 1829, this township was part of
Bloom, and the three qualified voters residing here went to the polls of
Bloom township to cast their votes for John Quincy Adams, opposing
candidate to Andrew Jackson in the autumn of 1828.
On the same day Ezra Gilbert presented a
petition to the county commissioners for the organization of this township
as originally surveyed. The Cayuga county, N. Y., from whence he
came.
It is a fact worthy of note that up to 1840 no township
officer made any charge for his services. The postoffice at Caroline
was taken away by Gilmore, and the government refused to make other
appointments for Caroline. Then the Attica postoffice was
established.
From this time forward the settlement of the township
and village was rapid. In 1830 or 1831 Jacob Newkirk, from
the state of New York, erected the first frame house in the township, on
the present site of F. H. Steigmeyer's store. Many of us
remember the old Huddleson house. It was removed only six
years sine, when it was the property of David Ayres.
The first saw-mill in Venice township was erected
by Henry Speaker, Sr., about the year 1831, on his farm, between
Attica and Caroline. The motive power was a yoke of oxen and an
extra steer in a tread-wheel. It was afterwards converted by the
owner into a grist mill, with one run of small stone and a carding
machine.
In 1836 Ebenezer and George Metcalf, with
some local aid, erected a stream saw-mill near the present site of the
Heabler grist mill, in Attica. In the month of March, 1840, this
mill was destroyed by fire, entailing a heavy loss on both the owners and
the community.
John and Frederick Steigmeyer were the
owners of the next team sawmill erected on this site. In course of
time a grist mill was connected therewith by them. and after a few changes
in owners we now have our excellent flouring mill owned by J. Heabler &
Bros. Early in our history a steam saw mill and also a grist
mill were built at Caroline by Peter Kinnaman, both of which were
afterwards swept away by fire.
[Note. - In 1857, one morning in the winter, a boy
named Ephraim Groves, while standing in front of the boiler warming
his feet, was scalded to death by the bursting of the boiler of this mill.
He lived a few days after the accident, but never spoke from the time he
was hurt.]
After the completion of the school house an invitation
was sent to the Rev. Mr. Robinson, a Presbyterian minister living
at Melmore, who came and preached to the people, it being the first sermon
delivered in the township. After this his services were secured for
one year, he preaching every third week on a week day.
In the spring of 1833 a union Sabbath school was
organized by Rev. Mr. Patty, an agent of the American Sabbath
School Union, and Mr. Martain was chosen superintendent for one
year, but he moving away before the expiration of that time, Johnson
Ford succeeded him, and his services were retained in that capacity
for twenty-five consecutive years, when he resigned on account of
defective hearing.
A Presbyterian church was organized in October, 1833,
with thirteen members, by Revs. E. Conger and E. Judson, of
Huron Presbytery, and John Holmes and J. Ford were ordained
elders thereof.
The Episcopal Methodists organized a small class in
1835, and in 1838 the English Lutherans formed a church, and in 1840 or
1841, with the help of the community at large, erected the church now
owned by the United Brethren. This house they were unable to finish,
and the writer well remembers the rude slab benches without backs, which,
for a number of years, furnished the sittings.
This society, failing to pay for their building, were
compelled to sell it, and fearing it might be devoted to other uses and
the community be deprived of a place for public worship, Johnson Ford
shouldered the burden of its purchase, and obtained a clear title thereto.
In a short time thereafter it was reseated and improved, and for a number
of years the three above mentioned denominations worshiped therein, and in
harmony conducted Sabbath school and church services. This is the
history of the first religious denominations and church building in our
township.
About the year 1840 a one story brick school house was
built on teh spot where the one in present use now stands. The
interior was arranged with desks running along the side walls and seated
with slab benches. In the year 1841 the Attica Baptist church was
organized with nine members, and on the 2d day of April, 1842, Rev. S.
M. Mack became its first regular pastor. In the year 1852 this
denomination built its present house of worship. In the winter of
1849 and 1850, as nearly as can be conveniently ascertained, the village
of Attica was duly incorporated, and on the 6th day of April, 1850, the
first election of city officers was held, resulting as follows:
Mayor - John L. LaMeraux
Clerk - Samuel Miller
Councilmen - Samuel Crobaugh, David K. Burg, Benjamin Kelley, John
Heckman, John Ringle
Board of Education - Samuel Miller, M. R. Moltz, John Lay, Ebenezer
Metcalf, Orlando Miller, James H. Brisco.
At the first council meeting on the 15th of
the same month, S. E. Martin was appointed marshall, and William
Rininger treasurer.
Thus was our village launched forth to rank among the
small cities of our land.
In the winter of 1853 the buildings then occupying the
southeast corner of Main and Tiffin Streets were consumed by fire.
William Rininger then bought the vacant lot and erected thereon his
present storeroom.
Two or three years later a conflagration occurred on
the northwest corner of said streets, and the large frame hotel building
erected then by William Miller, early in Attica's history, and then
owned by H. M. Chandler, was swept away. Chandler then
caused to be erected the brick block we see here today. Attica has
been visited by several smaller fires, of which we have not time to speak.
In the year 1856 and 1857 the school house still in use
in our town was built, the contract having been let to Levi Rice,
for which he received $1,328.42.
The Universalist society erected their house of worship
in the year 1860.
Attica has not been without her sensations, prominent
among which are the great fraudulent failures of Higley,
Chandler, Schuyler and others in 1856 or 1857, and the discovery
of the den of counterfeiters, and the subsequent conviction of one of our
citizens for the crime.
Perhaps it would not be out of place, as we draw our
history to a close, to give the names of those, and the years in which
they served, who have had the honor to serve the village as chief.
John L. LaMeraux served as mayor in 1850;
William Miller in 1851; Wm. Rininger in the years 1852, 1853,
1854, 1858, 1860 and 1865; P. Kinnaman in 1855 and 1859; R. H.
Blodget in 1856, 1857, part of 1861 and all of 1862; J. R.
Buckingham was elected in 1861, but resigning, R. H. Blodget
was appointed to fill his place. The record of 1863 and 1864 does
not show who served as mayor during those years. William M.
Miller was elected in 1866, April 2d, and resigned May 14th, when
H. M. Chandler was appointed to fill the unexpired term.
Chandler was elected in 1867, and again in 1868, and during the latter
year the burden of the purchase of the town hall was imposed upon the
people. H. J. Ford served in 1869; J. C. Meyers was
elected in 1870 for two years, and re-elected in 1872 for the same time.
J. W. Simpson was elected in 1874, but failing health incapacitated
him for the service, and his death occurred in the following winter.
Our present honorable mayor, James L. Couch, was appointed to act
during the unexpired term.
The peoples' voice at the ballot-box a short time since
proclaimed James L. Couch mayor for 1876 and 1877.
In conclusion, we have only to add the number of public
buildings in township and village, and the population, as nearly as it can
be ascertained in this centennial year of our nation and semi-centennial
of our township.
In the township we have eight churches and thirteen school houses,
and a population, including Attica, estimated at 2,300.
Attica, within her corporate limits, contains three
churches, one school house, three dry good stores, tow hotels, two
hardware stores, two tinshops, two drug stores, two provision stores, two
furniture stores, one cabinet shop, two undertakers, one clothing store,
one marble shop, two harness shops, two blacksmith and carriage shops, two
carriage painters, one gunsmith, one flouring mill, sash and blind
factory, one foundry and machine shop, one shoe factory, two boot and shoe
shops, three millinery stores, one photograph gallery, two cooper shops,
one grist mill, one ashery, one carding machine, one confectionery and ice
cream room, two billiard and drinking saloons, three village groceries,
three tailor shops, one livery stable, one jewelry store, one printing
office, one express office, two meat markets, one attorney, four
practicing physicians, one dentist, one barber shop, one Odd Fellows
lodge, one Masonic lodge, one Grange lodge, one weekly newspaper.
Our village has increased materially in population, and
the number of dwellings since the completion of the Baltimore & Ohio
railroad and the establishment of a station bearing the name of Attica,
which occurred on the 1st of January, 1874.
This centennial year finds us in the midst of
prosperity and healthy growth, with a bright business future before us,
and our corporate limits extended, giving ample room for those who desire
to purchase building lots, and locate among us. We will not attempt
to scan the future with prophetic eye and declare what our township and
village will be fifty or one hundred years hence, but we may safely say
the historian of the second centennial of our nation's life will record as
great changes as any we can chronicle to today.
We must not overlook the part of our aged mothers took
in this war-fare of pioneer life. Side by side they stood with
husbands, enduring dangers and privations like heroes, as they really
were. Many of them left homes of comfort and even luxury, at the
east, to follow the fortunes of the one to whom they had given their heart
and hand.
All unused to the solitude of the western forests, and
its attendant dangers, they faltered not, but putting their trust in their
father's God, and leaning on the strong arm of their husbands, they came,
and we today have reason to bless their coming.
Let us respect and love them while they live, and when they
are gone, may our recollections of them be as sweet incense to their
memory.
With uncovered head, and bated breath, let us always
speak the sacred name of "Mother."
And now, friends and fellow citizens, while we are
called upon today to review the past and to celebrate the words and deeds
of those who, one hundred years ago, declared us a nation of freemen, and
whose blood brought the precious boon, let us remember also those who
saved our country when rebels sought its life. Some we have laid to
rest, and their graves are honored year by year.
Let us cherish the gift of freedom while we live, and
transmit it unimpaired to coming generations.
May our love for God and our own kindred alone, take
deeper root in our hearts, than our love of country and our country's
flag.
On the 4th of March, 1851, an act was passed by the
general assembly of Ohio authorizing the establishment of a grammar school
in Attica, and which providing for the levying of a tax for that purpose,
not to exceed twenty cents on the $100 valuation in the district.
Philip Bollinger, who this day, June 1st, 1880,
is ninety-two years old and perhaps the oldest inhabitant of this
township, was born in Homburg, in the Palatinate of Bavaria, and came to
this country in 1843. He is healthy and vigorous, and can walk
fifteen or twenty miles a day. He is lively and cheerful, and has an
excellent memory. He enjoys the comforts of the home of his son,
Louis Bollinger, a respected citizen of Venice township.
BIOGRAPHIES OF:
JOHNSON FORD
MAURICE MOORE
WILLIAM M'PHERSON
--------------------------------
VENICE TOWNSHIP IN THE WAR
It was half past four o'clock,
Friday morning, April 12, 1861, when the first roar of cannon broke the
quiet in which our nation had rested many years. We had enjoyed
peace and prosperity and were unused to war, and its first sound aroused
the nation like an electric shock. Strong men left their quiet homes
to join the ranks of war, and every worthy citizen bore a common share in
the sacrifices, toils and cares required to preserve the integrity of the
Union.
Vince township born her part manfully, and many of her sons were
killed upon the battlefield, died of wounds received in the defence of
their country or in rebel prison pens.
And the women of Vince were as patriotic as the men.
They started aid societies for the relief of the sic and wounded soldiers,
and for that purpose met at the Baptist church in Attica, on the evening
of the 22d of Oct., 1861, when the organization was completed, a
constitution adopted, Mrs. Sarah Blodgett elected president,
Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, secretary and Mrs. Mary Bennett,
treasurer.
Nearly every family in the community is mentioned in
the secretary's report as having contributed something to the society.
Great quantities of clothing, provisions, hospital stores, etc., were sent
forward form time to time to aid and relieve. The last meeting of
the society took place May 29, 1867, when all the money yet remaining on
hand, was donated to the order of Good Templars.
The following is an incomplete list of the volunteers
from this township for the Union Army.
7TH REGIMENT O.V.I.
Stephen Rice, Joshua Creglough
( who were both killed at Strassburg, Virginia), Jacob Hines, Lon
Jones, Ira Grimes, James Smith, J. Haarbaugh.
COMPANY H, 14TH REGIMENT O. V. I.
Sergeant John Brown, Frank
bartholomew (wounded Sept. 19, 1863), Lyman Carpenter, Ambrose C.
Croxton, John Goodman, R. J. Jamison, George Metcalf, William H. Miller
(who were also wounded on the same day), Henry D. Cain, T. B.
Carson, Philip Carothers, W. Deitrich, John Holmes, William Kemp, Maurice
Kemp, Henry McDonald, James D. Stevenson, Jonathan S. Philo, George Ringle,
Samuel Spencer, Joseph Wheaton and George H. Rice (who was wounded
Sept. 1, 1864).
COMPANY B, 49TH REGIMENT O.V.I.
M. B. Todd, V. J. Miller, John
Bennington, W. H. Miller, John Todd, Mark Shade, George Bennington, Jehu
Weaver, H. B. Courtright, D. M. Miller, James Courtright.
55TH REGIMENT O. V. I.
Otto Hull, Frank Smeltz
and Stephen Howland
66TH REGIMENT O. V. I.
Samuel Croxton, August Tanner
(wounded at Kennesaw Mountain, June 19, 1863), Lafayette Parmenter
and Henry Ames (wounded at Peach Tree creek and died in
consequence in July, 1863).
COMPANY I, 123D REGIMENT O. V. I.
William Bartholomew
(wounded at Farmville, Virginia, April 6, 1865), A. W. Hoffman, Joseph
Hoffman, Sylvester Ostmer, Joseph Spencer, John Spencer, M. B. Todd, M. W.
Mitchner (died from wounds, Sept. 3, 1864), William B. Henry
(died from wounds received June 15, 1864, at Winchester, Virginia), J.
L. Henry, W. Sheely, Samuel Carpenter, Wright McKibben, John Hillis, David
Hillis, James Hillis, Wison W. English, L. Gibson, Isaac Funk (killed
July 18, 1864), Henry Ebersole (killed June 15, 1864, a Winchester,
Virginia), John Fink, Isaac Seavault, John W. Rogers, John B. Shaffer,
David Thompson (wounded June 15, 1763), S. S. Carson, Hugh M. Cory,
John H. Carpenter and J. F. Schuyler, lieutenant. This
company was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 15, 1865.
Quite a number of men served under Captain W. M.
Miller in the O. N. G.
Anson and Harvey Bartholomew, F. M. Seed, E.
Crow, Joseph Harbaugh, Mr. Shade and W. B. Olds were stationed
on Johnson's Island (Sandusky Bay) guarding rebel prisoners.
FIRST OHIO HEAVY ARTILLERY
Clarkson Betts, James
Courtright, H. Courtright, S. Grove, Isaac Seppard, Silas McDougal, Alex,
McKitrick, W. Shoup, and James Pangborn.
In November, 1874, the people of Venice sent to the
sufferers by grasshoppers in Kansas, in cash, clothing and provisions,
$387.72, all raised in Attica and vicinity. Mrs. Moltz was
secretary of the association.
A similar society in the town of Attica and vicinity
sent to the sufferers by fire in Chicago, in 1871, $975.99.
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